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Saturday, August 27, 2016

"It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle."

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Many times women echo similar thoughts of my own heart.Women crave to be held. To experience the ecstatic energy of being thought about and wanted and singular in someone's mind. We see a young family in the restaurant enjoying their children and we yearn for it.

We are tired of providing for ourselves. We want to come behind a man and enable him to be the godly man God envisions him to be. We want to make a difference. We desire the security and protection of our man. Our heart yearns and it cannot be fulfilled. We are sometimes lonely.

How is this a gift?Say it wasn't a gift. Say it was a curse. What then?

There have been many times in my life I found myself in less than desirable circumstances. Not so very long ago I was curled up on my bed in the fetal position begging God to kill me. I was in so much pain. I faced the possibility of lymphoma. The grueling two year journey towards health. I've experienced people maligning me. I've had good friends misunderstand me. I've fought demons. I've had some of the dearest people in my life break my heart. I've questioned God's mercy. And I've lived with depression.

Were these times in my life a gift or a curse?

These things made me fall on my face desperate for a living God. These circumstances stretched my faith until the breaking point, only to grow it stronger. They molded me. They taught me the sovereignty of God. These experiences led me on a journey of repentance. They taught me thankfulness for my relationships. These “evil” things showed me a better glimpse through that dark glass of who God really is. I no longer took certain things for granted. They are the best things that ever happened to me.

I am convinced that if God cursed me with singleness my response we be almost the same as if I found it to be a gift. I would rejoice. I would thank Him. Even though He slay me – I will still trust Him. And I am also certain that the “evil” parts of being single are the things that grow us. With the right heart, singleness can be the best thing that ever happened to us. It can be that thing that makes us fall on our face desperate for the living God. It can teach us who He really is and bring us on a journey of repentance. And it can give us a thankful heart.

But just as all my other experiences could have led me to be angry or bitter or discontent – so can singlehood. If we find ourselves angry with women who are content in their singlehood we need to take a look at our heart and repent of our selfish behavior. It is selfish. Because we then go around trying to dissuade others' “delusions” of the grandeur of singleness. Plainly, that's called discouragement. Repent ladies. We aren't supposed to be discouraging our sisters.

I understand some women are silly. Some women flaunt their singleness. Some women may even try to be proud of their status to soothe their desires. But, claiming singlehood as a gift does not negate the hardships and the hurts that come with singlehood. Saying singleness is good does not mean we think marriage is bad or under-par. Embracing our singlhood is not a cop-out because we were refused the desire of our heart. And finding joy in our singleness doesn't mean we are starting a girl's club with the years of singlehood as a our badges.

Singleness is a stage of life that can be beautiful. If it is a gift, which I believe it is, rejoice and embrace it. Learn from it. Use it. Give Him glory.

And if you cannot be convinced that it is a gift, rejoice in your curse. Learn from it. Use it. Give Him glory.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Post written by guest writer Rebecca Robinson. A beautiful description on the joy of singleness!

All His Biddings are Joys

Singleness is not one of life's trials; it's not a cross to be borne. In it there is no suffering, no evil, no grief. It is not like when the man you've been married to for 20 years abandons you and your children to scurry into dark corners with sloppy wanton women. It's not like suddenly losing your child and being forced to bury them into the cold earth, with the brilliance of their life still ringing in your unbelieving retinas like a light snuffed out.

I don't mean to minimize that truth, "each heart knows it's own bitterness," and I certainly have struggled all my life with feelings of resentment and self loathing in relation to being alone. But that's quite my point- I spent YEARS behaving in my heart and mind as though I were without something I deserved; as though I were suffering a loss. It caused me to slink into bad relationships several times, out of thirst and lack of trust. What a waste of precious time!

Elisabeth Elliot wrote, "If you are single today, the portion assigned to you for today is singleness. It is God’s gift. Singleness ought not to be viewed as a problem, nor marriage as a right. God in his wisdom and love grants either as a gift."

To be a single person who sulks about being alone and is desperate to get married is like being a child desperate to grow up because he wants to stay up as late as he feels like it and be able to buy chocolate milk whenever he wants, having no idea in his smallness just exactly what he's asking for. You'll grow up one day and realize that with all those privileges come an entire world of battle and responsibility you never imagined.

I recently realized the very sweet gift of being single. It is like sipping a cup of hot coffee early in the morning as the sky blinks it's half closed sunshining eye at you from between pink clouds. It is beautiful because it is brief, fleeting, quiet. Just you. Just the Holy Spirit. Stillness.
This is what that single season should be like. If you are constantly caterwauling about being single, or even worse, constantly reassuring everyone around you how VERY content you are (thou doth protest too much, methinks), you have become like the man who rejects the good he is given because it is not the good he had expected. You have misunderstood marriage and you have misplaced Christ as the center.

My life's ambition is to be a mother and wife- it's a beautiful adventure I long for the way some long to travel the world someday. But I am not a mother or a wife, not yet, and it is His bidding that makes it so.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Satan hates us. He hated Eve. He would use us to destroy the kingdom of God as he tried to use Eve to destroy mankind.

We are weaker. There's no doubt in any rational mind, women are weaker. But it's a gift! God has created women in a totally unique way than men and though weaker in many areas, we are also better equipped in others.

Godly women are ensured protection in God's order by godly men. Authority and roles of headship are in place for our protection. Not for our oppression and suppression. To be truly godly and feminine in this wicked world is a dangerous adventure.

God has equipped us by commanding men to be our protectors and providers. We were created to have the protection of good men over us. So we might freely fulfill our purpose as women. Christ instilled men to be warriors for His kingdom, which includes sheltering, guiding, protecting women so they might flourish.

If God has placed good men in your life, you should rejoice, accept, and appreciate this gift.

Women who reject manhood and their duty to protect them, also reject who they are. Women are images bearers of God. Part of creation's crown. Chosen, and purposed to be exactly as created. We've been designed to be cherished and needed. Our femininity is beautiful, dangerous, powerful and life-giving. We are redeemed children of God meant to be tender, and inviting. We are equipped as warrior raisers. Individuals and yet all with a shared purpose of be man's co-ruler and laborer.

There is nothing inferior about being a captivating and powerful woman of God. The King of kings extends his hand inviting us to follow. There is nothing undignified about following a King. And when he places our hand in the hand of a fallible man, we can nobly accept and confidently follow his lead. And when Satan tempts us, we can smile at him and prove the glory of an all powerful God in the beauty of a noble woman's heart.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Satan knew how to take out Adam. He went after Adam's helpmeet. And it worked.

Satan uses this same strategy over and over.

I have been privileged to meet a handful of noble, godly men. These men are following after God's heart and seeking His kingdom and fighting against the gates of Hell. Recently I have noticed these men come under severe attack. And they've stood strong. Until, Satan pulled out his 6,000+ year old strategy. Attack on these men's wives.

Suddenly these strong men are uncertain. Insecure. Stumbling.

Ladies – do your relationships with the men in your life feel opposed? There's a reason. Satan would sift your men and would use you as a tool to do it.

Our fathers, brothers, husbands, brothers in Christ need us to be strong in the Lord. The world is against them. The last thing they need us doing is to join the tide against them.

The influence God has given us is powerful. We can choose to co-labor, encourage, support and build up. Or we can choose to manipulate, discourage, tear down our own homes and men.

After the Lord we are our men's greatest assets. We were created to ennoble them. Repent of your selfishness and find the joy of building up the men God has placed in your life.

I understand we have a world of past wounds screaming at us to “play it safe”. We have our families, our reputations, our ministries at stake. We have many reasons to validate our mistrust in our men.

It's not a sin to be faced with fear. To feel uncertain. But our security does not lie in the absence of our fears and dangers, but in the presence of God who is our King. Do not be afraid. 1 Peter 3:6

I'm not advocating enabling our men to sin. I'm simply saying we can choose to set aside our anxiety, our fears, even our common sense, and thrust ahead at our men's sides in the battle. Question your heart's motivation. Maybe God is leading your man to a wilderness like Paul or Moses. Maybe your man is a David. Maybe our men are Mordecais? These men underwent ridicule, mocking, wilderness' and risks all for God's glory.

Take up your shield ladies. Pull out your sword. Take a stand with your man. You are about to become warriors.